Handheld Apparatus for Disengagement of a Dose Unit from Its Packaging

ABSTRACT

The present invention concerns a handheld apparatus for automated and directional disengagement of a dose unit ( 17 ), such as a pill from its packaging ( 16 ), said apparatus comprising a housing ( 2 ) having a first and second end, where the housing is provided with an opening for receiving and supporting a packaging and positioning of a dose unit in this packaging and holding means arranged adjacent to said opening of the second end; and expelling means comprising a plunger ( 5 ) which by actuation of drive means ( 1 ) can be pushed against the holding means and hereby having a dose unit disengaged. The advantage of this dispenser apparatus is that it automatically causes the pill to be disengaged from the blister pack, reducing the working environment problems by reducing the repetitive one-sided manual work load, and reducing contamination risks by directional placement of the dose unit.

The present invention relates to a handheld apparatus for directionaldisengagement of a dose unit from its packaging.

A very used packaging technique for dosage units are blister packs.Blister packs are used as packaging technique for e.g. pills, tablets,and capsules. Pills, tablets, or capsules are generic terms for measuredamounts of substances, such as e.g. drugs, vitamins, animal foods, orother chemicals, which are brought on or in a form in order to be usedfor dose dispensing. In the present application, the term pill will beused as a common term for pills, tablets, and capsules. The nature ofthe different pills varies considerably, e.g. as to how friable they areunder pressure, and the shape or size thereof. The pills may be shapedas a disc, oval, cylinder, sphere or combinations thereof. The sizevaries in diameter from a few mm to over one cm.

Pills produced for e.g. drugs are generally situated separately in eachtheir recess in a sheet of e.g. metal or plastic, which is covered byone or more layers of the same material, a corresponding material orother suitable material. The packaging protects the pills effectivelyagainst e.g. contamination or shock, but may cause the users of saidpills many disadvantages, for example causing difficulties in forcingthe pills through the packaging.

In order for a pill to become disengaged from a blister pack, the pillmust be forced through the breakable part of the packaging. Some blisterpacks have a design, which makes them difficult to open, for example thepill may be relatively small compared to the recess in which it issituated. Others are deliberately made difficult to open, e.g. in orderto prevent children from unintentionally disengaging the pill, or due tothe effects of the pills and their ascribed effects.

Moreover, blister packs, which are relatively easy to open for theaverage adult, may be difficult to open for handicapped persons, elderlypersons and/or persons e.g. suffering from disorders in the joints, themuscles or the hands.

By continued uniform drug prescription a machine handled dose dispensingis often utilized. Hereby is understood that a pharmacy or a hospitaluse a machine for packing the pill(s) for each separate patient at eachpoint of time of dosage. When changes occur or new patients arrive, theprocessing period may last several days before the patient receives his(new) dose packages.

The present way in which the health personnel handle the dose dispensingduring emergencies, new arrivals or changes in pill doses is mainlyduring a period to manually disengage the pill or pills from the blisterpack or packages, and subsequently to manually transfer the disengagedpill or pills to the dose dispensing unit or units. This is an expensiveand inconvenient process, as it requires more man hours, is slow andtime consuming.

Moreover, the process is a problem for health and safety at work, giventhe fact that the health personnel perform one-sided repetitivestrenuous movements to disengage the pills from the blister packs, whichmay strain e.g. fingers, muscles and joints. Furthermore, during thesubsequent transferral from the collection point of the disengagementprocess to the dose dispenser unit, the health personnel may come intocontact with the disengaged pill, and different pills may touch saidcollection point, which increases the risk of contamination, causing anuisance and a disadvantage both to the patient and the healthpersonnel, since the effect of the pill(s) may be/become modified.

Techniques commonly applied for dose dispensing of pills from blisterpacks may be divided into two groups. The techniques, in which advanced,fully automated machines are utilized, and the manual techniques, inwhich a pressure applied by the palm of the hand or by one or morefingers on a simple tool or directly on the blister pack, are resultingin the desired pill being disengaged from the blister pack.

After the disengagement from the blister pack the pill usually ends upin a collection unit, from where each pill(s) is to be transferred intothe dose dispensing unit.

There is known some advanced fully automatic machines, as e.g. describedin US2003/0176942, U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,512 or FR 2 838 047. Theseapparatuses consist of several instruments, which are combined in such away as to perform a continued filling of dose dispensing units with oneor more pills of the same or different types. Several safety functionsare attached to the instrument in order to minimize erroneous dispensingand contamination risks. The machines are used for continuous uniformdrug prescription, since maintenance and programming in order to ensurean acceptable level of costs and safety is demanding.

For manually assisted dispensing there are known devices as described inU.S. Pat. No. 4,891,886, WO 2004/035459, DE 102 18 997, DE 203 80 218 U,EP 0 915 020, DK 384197 or CA 2,149,474. The manner of operation ofthese devices can generally be described as follows: A blister pack isinserted between a first and a second element and a pushing element. Thepushing element projects from the first element and pushes the pill outof the blister pack, when the first and the second element are closed byhand. Such devices are sold separately for use.

As an alternative to the above, the professional health personnel oftenuse a manual approach, where the blister pack is held between both handsand by combining the pressure and direction of the thumbs, thedisengagement of the pill from the blister pack can be performed quicklyand efficiently.

Disadvantages when using the above mentioned manual methods are that thephysical design of the device and the thumb approach increases the riskof the user performing the same repeated movement pattern every time,whereby the possibility of work related damages caused by repetitiveone-sided strenuous motions is increased. Further, by the subsequenttransferral process from the collection point of the disengagementprocess to the dose dispensing unit, the user can come into contact withthe disengaged pill and different pills may come into contact with saidcollection point, respectively, which results in added work stages anddemand a high degree of cleaning, if the risk of contamination is to beminimized.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved type ofpill dispenser where working environment problems and risk ofcontamination of the pill(s) and/or person(s) are reduced.

The invention consists of a handheld apparatus for directionaldisengagement of a dose unit, such as a pill, from its packaging, saidapparatus comprising a housing having a first and second end, where thehousing is provided with an opening for receiving and supporting apackaging and positioning of a dose unit in this packaging and holdingmeans arranged adjacent to said opening of the second end; and expellingmeans comprising a plunger which by actuation of drive means can bepushed against the holding means and hereby having a dose unitdisengaged.

Hereby the object is achieved and the drawbacks by the known devices areovercome. The advantage of the apparatus according to the invention isthat the automatic dose dispensing where contamination risks has beensuccessfully transferred and eliminated the possibility of work-relatedinjuries due to e.g. repetitive one-sided strenuous work. This isachieved by the apparatus components e.g. by pushing a button can bebring about a sufficient pressure on a pill which is then disengagedfrom the blister pack in a ergonomically suitable housing whereon ablister packaging support device may be attached, and with the holdingmeans which are designed to allow for the possibility ofdirectional/predetermined placement of pills, which have been disengagedfrom the blister pack. It is found that the weight of the handheldapparatus according to the invention may be below 150 grams.

The automated disengagement of pills from blister packs by a handheldapparatus according to the invention entail that the repetitiveone-sided strenuous work in connection with dose dispensing is reducedor even eliminated, as the workload of the process can be reduced toe.g. a push of a button.

The possibility of directional disengagement provided by the new pilldispenser reduces the risks of contamination, as the pill can bedisengaged directly to the dose dispensing unit.

A handheld apparatus according to the invention is thus contributory tothe reduction of contamination risks and improvement of workingenvironment conditions for persons who work with dose dispensing fromblister packs, since focus is transferred from the working environmentand contamination problems, to focusing on correct dose dispensing.

A handheld apparatus according to the invention may comprise three mainparts, a housing, a pill pushing device and a blister pack supportdevice, whereon the blister pack is placed and the pill is pushedthrough. Further, a usually exchangeable device providing the option ofdirectional placement of the pill can be placed on the blister packsupport device.

By providing a housing with whole or parts of the pill pushing device,the possibility of providing the housing with an exterior design isintroduced, and the placement of a possible actuation mechanism for thepill pushing device in order to allow for ergonomic and motional (andthus working environment and physical) considerations to a great extent.

By utilising a pressure and material technology capable of delivering asufficient and suitable pressure on the surface of the blister pack forthe pill to be forced through, disengaged from and leave the blisterpack without being destroyed, reduces the possibility of the pillleaving the blister pack in such a shape that the desired effect of thepill is modified.

By providing a control and automatic technology, bringing the pushingdevice after completed pushing, to a desirable initial position, thepossibility of the introduction of new inconvenient hand and/or armmovement patterns is reduced.

By providing an exchangeable and directional device in extension of andin connection with the blister pack support device, the possibility ofcontamination is reduced, as the pill can be placed directly in the dosedispensing unit.

By providing an exchangeable and directional device the possibility ofusing materials and designs for the exchangeable and directional device,making allowance for the various state and design of the pills isintroduced.

By ensuring that the handheld apparatus has a preferred weight of below150 grams, the possibility of introducing muscle and/or joint injuriesto the person using the apparatus is reduced.

The present invention is described in further detail in the followingwith reference to preferred embodiments in the related drawings where:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic sectional view of an automatic, handheldapparatus for pushing out pills according to a preferred embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view of an automatic, handheld apparatusaccording to a preferred embodiment with the packaging support in aninactive position;

FIG. 3 shows a sectional view of an automatic, handheld apparatusaccording to a preferred embodiment with the packaging support in anactive position.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show an example of a release mechanism in an apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the invention, and

FIGS. 6 to 9 show three embodiments of the design of an apparatusaccording to the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic sectional view of an embodiment of theinvention in the form of a stationary part 8A, 11 and a handheldapparatus. The apparatus is capable of pushing out a pill 17 from ablister pack 16, and at the same time or subsequently placing the pillin a dose dispensing unit (not illustrated) at the end of thedirectional unit 14. The illustrated apparatus comprises of a number ofindividual units. Nevertheless, it is possible to have two or more unitsintegrated to form a single unit.

More precisely, the apparatus preferably comprises a stationary part anda handheld part which can communicate with each other. The stationarypart contains an energy supply unit 11 and a control and directionalunit 8A. This unit 8A could exchange data with a data communication unitin the handheld apparatus. Such data could be amount of pills to aparticular patient, kinds of pills, etc.

The handheld part comprises a housing 2 wherein a pushing unit 1, aplunging unit 5 and a control and directional unit 8 is built in.

An actuation unit 10, a hand support unit 12 and a blister holder unit 6is provided on the outer surface of the housing. A directional unit 14is placed on the underside of the blister holder unit.

The specific units will be described in more detail in the following.

The pill pushing unit illustrated in FIG. 1 is suited for delivering theforce necessary for the plunger 5 to be capable of forcing the pill freeof its packaging, and subsequently moving the plunger back to itsinitial position or starting point.

Examination of several different blister packs has shown that thepackaging currently used by some manufacturers of medicine demand apower when using a 5 mm to 10 mm in diameter plane plunger surface and10 mm to 15 mm in diameter exit hole of between 15 N and 70 N to pushthe pill free of the blister pack. It is preferable that the plungerdoes not hit the pill hard but rather pushes the pill so that the riskof breaking the pill is reduced.

Consumer surveys have shown that an acceptable timeframe for thedisengagement should typically be less than 4 seconds and preferablyless than 2 seconds.

The total travel length (forth+back) of the plunger will typically beset within the range between 3 mm and 35 mm.

Among the drive units capable of meeting the above and previouslymentioned objectives, it is possible to use instruments within e.g. theelectric, pneumatic, or mechanically driven motors, actuators,compressors, valves or combinations thereof.

Among e.g. electric motors with or without gearing the following couldbe mentioned: AC motors, AC synchronous motors, brushless motors,nonferrous motors, DC motors, permanent magnet step motors, variablereluctance step motors and hybrid step motors.

The drive means comprises a motor 1 and threaded shaft 4 around which anut or a threaded pipe 3 is provided for transferring the rotationalmovement of the motor to a linear movement for the plunger.

The drive shaft 4 and the accompanying nut or internally threaded pipe 3can be made of materials of e.g. plastic, metal, composite material, orcombinations thereof. The gearing and the dimensions of the gearing ischosen in order to ensure that the plunger impacts the blister pack sothat the pill can be released from the blister pack in an efficient andcontrolled way.

The plunger can be equipped with built-in sensors for e.g. pressure andor distance, which by signalling to the directional and control systemcan assist in controlling the movement pattern of the plunger.

The pressure surface of the plunger can be connected with the plungervia a spring or some other elastic material in order to achieve adesirable pressure pattern on the pill in the blister pack. The pressuresurface may consist of one or more levels, which can be plane, inclined,concave, convex or one or more combinations thereof in relation to eachother.

The plunger and the pressure surface, to which the demands andrequirements for design, strength, hardness and elasticity may bedifferent, may be made of materials of e.g. metal, plastic, rubber,composite or combinations thereof.

The movement and movement pattern of the drive unit 1 may be controlledby one or more control units 8, 8A. The communication between thevarious control units—either in a handheld and/or in a stationaryunit—can be wireless or cable transmitted communication. In FIG. 1, thetwo units communicate with each other via cables.

The type and characteristics of the energy supply 11 depend on thechosen drive unit. The energy supply may be capable of delivering thenecessary power and energy so that the handheld part by actuation iscapable of pushing the desired amount of pills free of one or moreblister packs.

The actuation unit 10 will typically be an on/off switch contact with atorque or lock function, depending on the chosen control and directionaldesign. Furthermore, the outer design of the actuation unit will mostoften take into account the ergonomic design of the apparatus.

The material characteristics and design of the housing are chosen withregard to the fact that the apparatus has to be positioned in a stableand secure way in the hand of the user during application. This meansthat when designing the apparatus, consideration must be take as toergonomic conditions such as the weight distribution in the hand andthus the placement of the various units in and on the housing e.g. thehand support 12, the blister holder 6, the actuation button 10 and thecontrol system 8. In FIGS. 6 to 9, some examples of designs of anapparatus according to the invention are shown.

The housing with its various requirements and demands for design,strength hardness and elasticity may be made of materials of e.g. metal,plastic, rubber, composite or combinations thereof.

Since the function of the blister holder 6 is to secure that the blisterpack has a stable and safe bed plate in order for the pill to bedisengaged from its packing under the operation of the plunger, and toallow for the possibility of the pill subsequently being directed to aplacement into a dose dispensing unit, the holder must be built in a wayso as to be able to resist the pressure of the plunger on the blisterpack, to contain at least one exit hole 7 for the pill, and to providethe possibility of the attachment of a directional unit 14.

The physical size, placement and attachment method of the blister holderon the housing depend on the users wishes and demands as tofunctionality and flexibility. The blister holder can thus be mounted onthe holster both revolving and pivoting, and further, as the blisterpack often contain more than one row of pills, the bed plate canpreferably handle more rows.

Among applicable materials for the construction of the blister holdermetal, plastic, composite or combinations thereof can be mentioned.

As the function of the directional unit 14 is to assist in the pillbeing placed in the desirable place and that the characteristics of thepill on its way thereto are modified in the slightest possible way, itis important that shape and characteristics (e.g. smoothness andelasticity) of the funnel does not effect the pill in the slightestpossible way. The shape can be e.g. wholly or partially cylindrical,wholly or partially funnel-shaped or with straights or curved sides orcombinations thereof.

Further, as the apparatus may be used for different types of pills, bothas to size and content, it is important that the holder or at least thedirectional unit 14 including exchange of blanks with specific openingdiameters of the hole 7 is easily interchangeable.

Among applicable materials for the construction of directional unit 14,metal, plastic, rubber, composite or combinations thereof can bementioned.

The handheld automatic pill dispenser illustrated in FIG. 1 isconstructed in a way that the electronics for controlling the movementpattern of the motor 1 is placed in the stationary part 8A and theelectronics for actuation and control of movements is placed in thehandheld part. The step motor is used as drive means 1, where the powersupply is placed in the stationary part. A threaded shaft 4 and the nut3 belonging thereto are used for driving the plunger 5. A plane roundplastic disc attached to the nut is used for the plunger 5 and pressuresurface. A mechanically made contact with torque function is used as anactuation unit. The blister holder 6 containing an exit hole 7 underwhich it is possible to attach and replace a directional unit 14 isfixed on the housing 1. The directional unit 14 is partiallyfunnel-shaped with a curved bottom. Such a mounting would be suitablefor users, requiring flexibility in the form of pressing out manydifferent or similar pills e.g. in hospital wards.

The handheld automatic apparatus illustrated in FIG. 2 is constructed ina manner where all units of functionality are present in the handheldunit. Further, it differs from the pill dispenser shown in FIG. 1 as thedrive unit 1 is of the actuator type. The plunger 5, containing morelevels, is mounted on the actuator shaft 4. The energy supply 11 is abattery. The blister holder 6 is mounted 15 both revolving and pivotingin relation to the housing 1. The hand support 12 can be pivoted inrelation to the housing. On the blister holder 6 and thus a part of theblister holder 6 a movable device 9 is mounted, which makes it possiblefor the user to apply various exit hole sizes. Such a mounting would besuitable for users, requiring flexibility in the form of pressing outmany different pills and also portability must be present e.g. for homecare nursing personnel.

The handheld automatic pill dispenser illustrated in FIG. 3 is mainlyconstructed as the one illustrated in FIG. 2 with the followingdifferences: A DC motor with gear 13 is used. The driving shaft, nut andplunger are constructed as in the example shown in FIG. 1. The blisterholder and hand support are fixed. A cylindrical funnel is used as adirectional unit. Such a mounting would be suitable for users, requiringflexibility in the form of a simple operational procedure and whereergonomic and weight design is important e.g. for elderly people.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, there is shown a spring-loading system, where thedrive motor 1 compresses a spring 43 which is released when theapparatus is activated and the release of the spring 43 is used to expelthe plunger 5 from the housing (not shown in FIGS. 4 and 5). Hereby, auniform plunging action is achieved irrespective of the condition of themotor. The drive motor 1 may be connected via a gearing 44 to a firstplunger activation member 41 which is rotatably arranged in the housing(not shown). In this first activation member 41 the head 51 of theplunger 5 is lifted whereby the spring 43 is compressed in the secondactivation member 42. The release of the spring 43 can be done byrotating the first activation member 41. Other mechanical releasemechanisms may of cause be provided without departing from the scope ofthis invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the inventionwhere the plunger is arranged to undergo a linear movement and the handsupport 12 is provided around the generally cylindrical housing 1.

In FIG. 7, a second embodiment is shown where the housing 1 is formedwith an upper portion 1 a and a lower portion 1 b and a hand support 12connecting the two portions 1 a and 1 b. The plunger (not visible inFIG. 7) is adapted to be expellable out of the distal end of the upperportion 1 a and into the exit hole 7 of the blister pack holder 6, whichis provided on the distal end of the lower portion 1 b, so that ablister pack 16 containing one or more pills 17 can be placed on theholder 6 and the pills be disengaged by the plunger.

In FIGS. 8 and 9, a third embodiment is shown, where the housing 1 isalso designed with an upper portion 1 a and a lower portion 1 b defininga gap 1 c there between. The hand support 12 is situated on the mainportion of the housing and facilitates a firm grip on the device forboth left and right-handed persons. In this embodiment, the plunger 5may be a rocking or pivotable member arranged in the upper portion 1 aand is extendable out of the distal end of this upper portion 1 a. Thelower portion 1 b is formed so that it integrally provides a blistersupport holder 6 with an exit hole 7 and may be also a directional unit(not visible) for guiding the pill 17 after it is disengaged from theblister pack 16.

In the description of the above embodiment, the terms “upper” and“lower” are used as relative terms for easier explanation. However, itis realised by the invention that the apparatus may be tilted orotherwise turned in any direction just as other variations of thedescribed embodiments without departing from the scope of the inventionas defined in the accompanying claims.

List of reference numbers 1 Drive unit 2 Housing 3 Nut 4 Driving shaft 5Plunger 6 Blister holder 7 Exit hole 8, 8A Control/directional unit 9Exit hole holder 10 Activation unit 11 Energy supply unit 12 Handsupport 13 Gear 14 Directional unit 15 Mounting unit 16 Blister pack 17Pill 18 Suspension

1. A handheld apparatus for directional disengagement of a dose unitfrom its packaging, said apparatus comprising: a housing having a firstand second end, where the housing is provided with an opening forreceiving and supporting a packaging and positioning of a dose unit inthis packaging and holding means arranged adjacent to said opening ofthe second end; and expelling means comprising a plunger which byactuation of drive means can be pushed against the holding means andhereby having a dose unit disengaged.
 2. An apparatus according to claim1, wherein the plunger is pushed into the opening.
 3. An apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the drive means is activated by anactivation button placed in the first end of the housing.
 4. Anapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drive means comprises anelectric motor rotating a shaft, which is cooperating with a nutconnected to the plunger.
 5. An apparatus according to claim 1, whereinan internal energy supply is provided.
 6. An apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the drive means comprises a pneumatically activatedlinear actuator.
 7. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein thehousing is ergonomically shaped.
 8. An apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the holding means is pivotably arranged for movement between anactive position and a passive position for storage of the apparatus. 9.An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holding means is providedwith an exit hole through which the dose unit is expelled.
 10. Anapparatus according to claim 9, wherein the holding means is providedwith a direction means placed beneath the exit hole.
 11. An apparatusaccording to claim 10, wherein the direction means is removable.
 12. Anapparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control system,said control system comprising data communication means, wherein saiddata communication means is adapted to perform a data exchange with astationary unit.
 13. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein thecontrol means further include a battery charging system cooperating withcorresponding electrical charging means in the stationary unit forrecharging a battery pack including one or more battery cells in theapparatus.
 14. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plunger isa reciprocating piston.
 15. An apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe drive means includes a DC electric motor and a gearing fortransferring the rotational movement of the motor to a linear movementof the plunger.
 16. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein theplunger is a pivoting member.
 17. An apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the drive means are adapted to compressing an activation springmember, which by its release expels the plunger from the housing. 18.The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the dose unit is a pill. 19.The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the internal energy supplyis a rechargeable battery.
 20. The apparatus according to claim 7,wherein the housing comprises a hand support in the first end.